Hilden v. Rubio

1 District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE NICHOLAS D. HILDEN, et al., Case No. 2:24-cv-02167-KKE Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER MARCO RUBIO, et al.,1 13 Defendants.

14 STIPULATED MOTION 15 Plaintiffs and Defendants, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to stay these proceedings until May 13, 2025. Plaintiffs brought this litigation pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act seeking, inter alia, to compel Defendants to complete administrative processing of Plaintiff Fatemah Hosseinzadeh’s nonimmigrant visa application.

20 Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on March 14, 2025. The parties are currently working towards a resolution to this litigation. For good cause, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until May 13, 2025.

1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), Defendants substitute U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for Antony Blinken.

1 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. 5 P. 1.

6 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial intervention. A consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, refused Plaintiff Hosseinzadeh’s nonimmigrant visa application pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1201(g) for administrative processing on October 4, 2023. Recently, the Embassy has requested further documentation from Plaintiff and scheduled her for a follow-up interview on February 14, 2025. Because further litigation may not be necessary after these steps are completed, the parties agree that holding this case in abeyance is appropriate. Therefore, the parties believe good cause exists for a stay in these proceedings to save the parties and this Court from spending unnecessary time and judicial resources on this matter.

15 Accordingly, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until May 13, 2025. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before May 13, 2025.

17 // // // // 1 DATED this 31st day of January, 2025.

2 Respectfully submitted, TESSA M. GORMAN United States Attorney 4 By s/ Kristin Nealey Meier s/ Michelle R. Lambert Kristin Nealey Meier, WSBA #33562 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 Assistant United States Attorney By s/ Jeng-Ya Chen United States Attorney’s Office Jeng-Ya Chen, WSBA #52860 Western District of Washington 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 By s/Julia J. Fleming Tacoma, Washington 98402 Julia J. Fleming, WSBA #58743 Phone: (253) 428-3824 Fax: (253) 428-3826 By s/ Haley M. Westman Email: [email protected] Haley Westman, WSBA #61552 RYAN, SWANSON & CLEVELAND, Attorneys for Defendants PLLC Union Street, Suite 1500 I certify that this memorandum contains 323 Seattle, Washington 98101-2668 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. Telephone: (206) 464-4224 12 [email protected] [email protected] 13 [email protected] [email protected] 14 Attorneys for Plaintiffs

1 ORDER 2 The parties’ stipulated motion (Dkt. No. 7) is GRANTED. This case shall be held in abeyance until May 13, 2025. The parties shall submit a joint status report on or before May 13, 2025.

6 DATED this 31st day of January, 2025.

A Kymberly K. Evanson 9 United States District Judge